Hermes is the god of merchants. What is the meaning of his symbol/attribute?

Question

The symbol/attribute of the God of merchants composed of 2 snakes wrapping around a laurel branch like the medicine doctor insignia.
Why medicine doctors choose the same symbol of Hermes?

Answer 1

Trung - Good question.
The two snakes around a caducius is indeed the symbol for Hermes who is also the God of thieves.
The symbol for the medical profession in America has two snakes - big mistake. The correct symbol for medicine only has one snake - not two. So yes I too was very surprised when I first went to America to discover that US doctors were unwittingly using the symbol of the god of thieves. Then again many of them do seem to honor Hermes by the fees they charge.

Answer 2

Many "medical" organisations use a symbol of a short rod entwined by two snakes and topped by a pair of wings, which is actually the caduceus or magic wand of the Greek god Hermes (Roman Mercury), messenger of the gods, inventor of (magical) incantations, conductor of the dead and protector of merchants and thieves. It is derived from the Greek karykeion = "herald's staff", itself based on the word "eruko" meaning restrain, control.

It is interesting to see that most of organisations using this symbol are generally either commercial or military (or American). New Zealand examples include drug and pharmaceutical companies. A study by Friedlander confirms this impression.

The link between the caduceus of Hermes (Mercury) and medicine seems to have arisen by the seventh century A.D., when Hermes had come to be linked with alchemy. Alchemists were referred to as the sons of Hermes, as Hermetists or Hermeticists and as "practitioners of the hermetic arts". There are clear occult associations with the caduceus.

The caduceus was the magic staff of Hermes (Mercury), the god of commerce, eloquence, invention, travel and theft, and so was a symbol of heralds and commerce, not medicine. The words caduity & caducous imply temporality, perishableness and senility, while the medical profession espouses renewal, vitality and health.
[2] The Staff of Asclepius (Æsclepius, Asklepios)
[Personification of Medical or healing Art and its ideals]

Professional and patient centred organisations (such as the NZMA, in fact most medical Associations around the world including the World Health Organization) use the "correct" and traditional symbol of medicine, the staff of Asclepius with a single serpent encircling a staff, classically a rough-hewn knotty tree limb. Asclepius (an ancient greek physician deified as the god of medicine) is traditionally depicted as a bearded man wearing a robe that leaves his chest uncovered and holding a staff with his sacred single serpent coiled around it, (example right) symbolizing renewal of youth as the serpent casts off its skin. The single serpent staff also appears on a Sumerian vase of c. 2000 B.C. representing the healing god Ningishita, the prototype of the Greek Asklepios. However, there is a more practical origin postulated which makes sense [See Dracunculus medinensis].

Answer 3

I think the reason doctors use his symbol is because they originally used a symbol relating to one of the sons of Apollo but the two symbols became interchangable. Although Brian S. had a good point with the doctors fees.

Answer 4

Hermes is the messengers of the gods, he advance into additionally a handbook to the underworld. "he's likewise the buyer of limitations and of the travellers who shuttle for the time of them, of shepherds and cowherds, of the crafty of thieves and liars, of orators and wit, of literature and poets, of athletics and activities, of weights and measures, of invention, and of commerce regularly. His symbols contain the tortoise, the hen, the winged sandals, the winged hat, and the caduceus (given to him by potential of Apollo in substitute for the lyre)." wish that enables

Answer 5

Actually they are 2 ribbons not snakes, and that is the sign of Aesculapius. Look also under Mercury for more sygils. He is also for travelers, theives, crossroads, messengers. He also wears a cap with wings, and sandals with wings.

Answer 6

technically, the symbol for healing is one snake, no wings. but i think they use them interchangeably now. i know my dads med school ring has the one snake, but the hospital lab coats have the two with wings.